Andray Blatche backed up teammate Paul Pierce’s guarantee, promising a Nets victory in Game 6. And after helping Brooklyn stave off elimination with a 97-83 win — and earn a Game 7 in Toronto — Blatche doubled down and vowed they would win Sunday’s first-round playoff series finale as well.
“Yeah, we guarantee it. We’re going to go there, take care of business and go to Miami,’’ Blatche said in a hallway in the bowels of the Barclays Center. The big man had guaranteed victory during Friday morning’s shootaround, and after Jason Kidd gave Blatche extended minutes in Game 6, he made good on that vow.
“Yeah, I did [guarantee Friday’s win],” he said. “We’re not going home. We’re not trying to go home. We’re going to go out there, we’re going to fight in Toronto on Sunday.’’
Blatche and Alan Anderson were good enough in the Nets’ huge fourth quarter Wednesday to be back on the court in the first quarter Friday.
“It was more a feeling among the coaching staff, the way that [Anderson] played for us in that fourth quarter in Toronto to see if he could carry that over, and he definitely picked up where he was,’’ said Jason Kidd, who started Anderson over Shaun Livingston, partly to chase DeMar DeRozan and partly to space the floor.
Anderson responded with nine points and nine rebounds. And to get more offense on the floor — making the Raptors pay if they kept double-teaming Joe Johnson — Kidd also gave Blatche the lion’s share of the big man minutes behind Kevin Garnett, usually earmarked for Mason Plumlee. Blatche backed up his talk with eight points, seven boards and two blocks.
In reality, Kidd was just sticking with the hot hands, hoping they hadn’t cooled off since Wednesday’s Game 5. Blatche and Anderson had joined Johnson, Deron Williams and Mirza Teletovic on the floor in the fourth quarter, when the Nets went on a 44-24 run that fell just short of victory. Kidd liked what he saw.
“Just the movement of the ball,” Anderson said. “They’re trapping Joe, and I can shoot the ball all right, so I had to be ready to knock them down. And once I started knocking more down, they aren’t going to be able to double team Joe too much longer. And after you stop double-teaming him, they struggle.’’
The Nets picked up where they left off in Toronto, outscoring the Raptors 34-19 in a first quarter that saw Plumlee log 9:35 minutes and Blatche add four points, three boards, two blocks and a steal in his 6:21.
In the end, they dominated inside with 48 points in the paint, led wire-to-wire and forced a Game 7 to make Kidd — and Blatche — look good.
“Do or die, man,’’ said Blatche. “We wanted this game. We were hungry for it. We came out aggressive on offense and defense, and we came with a lot of energy.’’